The lost operative
by The Last Atlantean
Summary: This is my first attempt at writing a story so say whatever you want any criticism is welcome. In this one I am attempting to create something that's a little bit on the side of one of my favorite videogames. I will try to coninue this story whether it is like or not. Hope you enjoy this attempt at making something that might be interesting.
1. Chapter 1

The lost operative

It was just before the attack on Earth that ONI decided to send a team operatives in a hastily made stealth ship to a planet colonized by the Covenant. This was supposed to be an attempt to gain more information about what was still an highly secretive subject. A team of four people was chosen for the task the leader was an old veteran such operations simply known as Scythe. Not much was known about him except that he was very good at whatever job was asked of him. Then there was Raven a young beautiful woman that looked around twenty years old she was of average height and had short silver hair. She was the long range combat and tech expert meant to carry out the task of getting the info that was asked of the. Yet another member was Delta an ever present brooding young man that had barely turned eighteen. He was just some extra support for Scythe who seemed to be an all-rounder just and he was as skilled as Scythe himself. Though he tended to get a bit cocky when on assignment. And finally we had our resident rookie called Archon the poor kid was lightly above average size. While being the youngest of the bunch at about fifteen years old he had an interesting set of skills. He had learned the languages used by the various races of the covenant and was an acomplished fighter with enough stength to present a slight challenge to a Sangheili. As to how this was possible you could chalk i tup to him living most of his life on a high g world. The four of them were ushered into a small briefing room where there mission was to be clarified. A dark figure in the room began to speak- You have been called here for a very special assignment – he said pausing briefly to clear his throat. You are also to assasinate whatever higher ranked member of the Covenant is present at the planet. This mission is intended to hinder the enemy war effort as well as attempt to gain valuable information about weapons and drive sytems of various vehicles. What's more for this mission you will be given the same surgeries as the spartan threes- he added. Your modifications will be limited but they should be a great improvement on your physical abilities which are quite inadequate for this mission. All of our attenders simply nodded in confirmation and shortly after some minor details were elaborated on these procedures they immediately proceeded to the medical facilities. This was two months before their mission was to begin. After their surgeries only Raven, Scythe and Archon remained Delta had died due to medical complications. The mission had gotten harder because shortly afetr their procedures they were told that the three of them were to complete the mission and that no one else could be chosen due to the time constrains.

Very soon they began to train to get used to their improved bodies. It was not long before their strengthened bones, muscles and senses were accustomed to their new their slightly stronger frames. However they were just slightly improved humans not real spartans. They had another month before them as both Raven and Archon had an interesting conversation with Scythe. This seems far too much effort for the three of us,- said scythe whilst continuing- it looks as though this mission is some last ditch attempt at a long range suicide attempt for anyone as the parameters were not clear. Then Raven said- Tell asu something we don't know old man. Besides three new operatives alongisde a veteran is always going to be a dead giveaway for a sucide mission. What's your opinion on this young blood? Archon simply said- I don't get paid enough to give a damn, but it does seem that thisis something quite strange. Just consider the fact that the guy who briefed us didn's specify which was aour priority for this one. Scythe and raen both gav him a surprised look until scythe asked him- What makes you think that? Then Archon proceedded to explain by sayinf- The guy who briefed us is known for always stating what the mission priorities are. Am I right? Thier looks shifted from surprise to slight amazement seeing how their young acomplice had answered. After a short pause Scythe answered- I gotta say the two of us never expected for you to know the people who do the briefings. But that doesn't change a thing for us cause we don't have a choice in this matter. Two weeks later the three somewhat hesitant operatives were outfitted with three experimental combat survival sets of armor thet were modified for special ops. They were also issued skin suits usually worn only by spartans. But in a few days time they were given a choice of weapons and ordered to launch far sooner than expected. And so as they boarded their hastily constucted stealth ship they predpared for some rather spartan living conditions but they were pleasantly surprised that each of them had their own rooms and plenty of privacy. tHeir ship did not appear to be hastily constructed but upon close inspection it was true. For this new vessel had been constructed from many other ships meant to have similar capabilities though this one seemed like a luxurios version of other similar vessels. It was thirty meters long and had a wingspan of fifteen meters with a set of four powerful main engines and a pair of boosters attached just for good measure. Smaller thrusters lined the sleek outer hull which had six forward facing modified spartan lasers with four more being turreted. Several missile pods were also being installed as they were boarding it. It even had a small yet somewhat unpredictable slipspace drive at the best of times but it would do for this mission. They were given a flight plan which described their route in great detail. They were to drop out of slipspace once to refuel at the halfway point where a seemingly abandoned space station was located. Shortly after being issued a low level military AI they entered their cryosleep chambers. Next time they would wake would be at the half way point. The trip took three days however over this time the team found something strange. One of them didn't wake up, Scythe had died in his pod due to a malfunction. His death was reported and his body left on the station for burial. After refueling they left this time however fully awake because they didn't want to risk going out like Scythe. Over this time period Archon had turned sixteen and had been working on getting closer to Raven. Though he did not know why this was happening he went along with it driven on by hormones of puberty. Whilst Raven contemplated on what they would do if something were to happen between them. The allure of a younger and inexperienced guy was tempting her and Archon was trying to push his luck. For he had never been in a relationship with a girl seeing as how he was picked up by an Oni operative at the age of twelve to be trained for jobs very similar to this one. Shortly after two days their AI, whose name they did not even bother to ask for, informed them tha due to a minor malfunction the trip would for five days instead of three. They had three more days to go and this was going to be interesting. I mean what could go wrong with a teenager being trapped with a hot girl in a stealth ship. Granted age could be a problem but this was to be a covert op and well let's just say not all events need to be reported. While this was somewhat of an inconvenience raven began to tease Archon for a little bit simply because she found his reactions amusing and the fact that it was just another way of passing the time. All the while this grew into somewhat of a hbit as they approached their destination. Soon a very stimulated Archon and Highly amused Raven dropped out of slipspace within reach of their target.


	2. Chapter 2

The duo of Raven and Archon were preparing their gear for their mission. Archon piqued raven's interest when he started checking the armor they were issued. They didn't have the time to check it out before they launched and the fact fact that Raven was teasing young Archon throughout the duration of their trip took Archon's attention away from thier gear. Archon would always check what gear he was issued for each mission and now he finally managed to get some time to see exactly what kind of armor thex were issued. It was a strange kind of armor jet black with a low yield shield powerful enough to withstand a sinlgle round from a plasma rifle apart from being equipped with an active camouflage system. The strangest thing about it was that it had a small amount of artificial muscle and a small concentration of nanites.

We are gonna have some fun with these- said Archon in a somewhat scary manner. What's so special about our armor that makes you think that? I mean it's just supposed to be regualr armor- said Raven with a somewhat confused tone in her voice. Just check out the specs i've found- replied archon while tossing her a tablet. Raven spent a solid twenty minutes reading the specs and after a short period of Archon watching her she decided to check the helmets of their armors. I figured as much- she said- these have a somewhat simplified neural interface syste, the same kind used in mjolnir powerarmor. Now do you know why Isaid we were gonna have some fun with these-said archon whilst grinning in a ridiculous manner and after a short pause he continued- though I am worried as to how is this donwgraded version of power armor going to work. They both thought about it for a moment and imagined dieing due to malfunctiong sytems. After a short while raven asked Archon a question she had been meaning to ask.

How old are you Archon? I turned sixteen a few days ago, why do you ask?-he said trying to figure out what she could be getting at. Really- said raven- I thought youwere around my age, you look older than you really are. I thought it was obvious- he replied. So have you ever been in a relationship?- she asked again trying to satiate her curiosity. Well there had been a few girls that caught my eye while I was being trained to become an operative but I just wasn't in a position where I could eventry to be in one. What are you interested in me- said Archon in a somewhat joking manner whilst trying to keep his cool.

To this Raven simply responded with by teasing him a bit more whilst trying to get him to make a conclusion on his own. And archon naturally tried his best not to jump to any conclusions but simply tried to enjoy the view made possible by the skinsuits they were wearing (these were somewhat more revealing than expected). They had just a little more time left before they would start entering the planet's atmosphere. They put on their armor and strapped in to try and survive the rather speedy descent into the tmosphere. The low level AI they were given would handle the re-entry and landing on the planet. Both Raven and Archon were a little nervous about this part of the mission for they could be easily detected. This didn't really phase archon as he was really trying to strike the image of Raven being naked from his mind and make it into reality. Easier said than done- he thought aloud. Raven asked him what he meant by that. Archon quickly said that he had been thinking of a contingency plan should he be in a survival situation on the planet. A nice, quick and somewhat true lie on his behalf. They braced as their craft entered orbit on the light side of the planet whilst also trying to avoid various sensor grids. After thirty or so minutes they had decided on a landing zone fifty kilometers away from their target. They quickly grabbed their weapons Raven took her trusty custom made high powered sniper and a silenced pistol. Archon's choice of weaponry was a modified DMR and a silenced SMG. He carried a bit of extra ammo with him as well as a pair of specially made combat knives. Why were these knives special? Well that's because they were made from a special alloy stronger and lighter than the lightest material available foe making bladed wepons and they also had a reverse engineered covenant energy projector in them. Basically speaking they were unstable wepons that could project plasma around the edge of the blade making it even easier to cut through things.

It's gonna be a long walk to our target. If I had to guess it would be a bare minimum of twentytwo hours- sighed archon. Well i guess it's a good thing we're wearing this bastardised version of power armor to make it slightly morebearable- Raven replied in a somewhat cheerful voice seeing how she would have more time to tease Archon until she could see him fall in love ass over tea kettle with her. Though this was easier in her mind than in reality. The fact that they would have to be more careful than usual and watchful of patrols. They had marched across twentyfive kilometers of unfamiliar terrain filled all forms of life along with many plant species. Their path continued through a dense forrest. The thick canopy let almost no light through in the day time. At this point they had been marching for over six hours and decidded to take a rest along a nearby creek.

I didn't expect there to be so much diversity in wildlife here- said Archon. I didn't take for someone who would be interestin nature- replied Raven. To which Archon simply replied by saying- My father had been taking me hunting from a very young age, he said it would be of use to me some day. I believed himand learned as much as I could. So- said Raven- what would your opinion be on what you have seen so far? Archon paused for a moment and continued by saying- It's too quiet around us there is definitely something really bad in this part of the forrest. I got that but you still haven't answered my question- said Raven. And archon, in an attempt to try and get into Raven's mind as she had gotten into his, replied - It's almost as beautiful as you are. Raven was suprised for a moment when a strange sound ripped through the air just as she was about to reply. Archon readied his weapon rightfully expecting a powerful predator to attack them. Raven was a little slower than Archon catching on just in time to bee ready as well. The sound of something going through the forrest brush was loud as though a miniature train waspassing through. It got more distant at some point archon and Raven were noti in danger this time they were lucky. This creature was hunting something else and soon they decided to find a safe space among the trees of the forrest. There they would find that their armor had miniaturised thrusters built into it allowng for greater manouverability. This would come in handy very soon.


	3. Chapter 3

While in the safety of the canopy Archon and Raven took a brief moment to check the sky to see what they should do further ahead. Archon jumped high until he latched onto a branch from which he could see the sun setting. Raven did the same after all she was a bit intrigued after Archon's response. Upon seeing the sun setting she immediately asked him- So what are our plans?

Archon replied- Well first off we need to get across another ten kilometers before we can rest for any meaningful amount of time. Plus the fact that there might be some nasty predators skulking around in the darkness means we should do so carefully. Raven simply decided to check her HUD for map information to see in which direction they should go. Upon seeing this Archon started focusing more on the sounds of the forest. It was almost too quiet, while he could hear the occasional sounds of smaller wildlife it was far too strange, there ought to be more animals making sounds. Raven after finishing decided to watch Archon for a little while to see wa he would do. After five minutes archon spoke silently through their comms system- I think we should keep covering ground by using our thrusters to move from tree to tree. Are you on board with this plan or would like to stare at me some more Raven? Slightly surprised Raven respondedover the comms by saying- Oh so you noticed, it took you a while. Archon then responded- No I noticed you staring since the very beginning, besides we really should get moving we have a lot of distance to cover. Raven didn't even have a chance to respond when archon dropped into the canopy and started to jump to another tree. He was slightly startled but soon followed his lead. Meanwhile archon readied his DMR and SMG in case they encounter something they'll have to deal with. Raven jumped near him with her pistol drawn. A long and painfully slow amount of tree hopping ensued and halfway though this archon suddenly stopped. He said ina na almost too silent of a manner- There's something hunting here we should wait a bit to see what it does. They waited for a few minutes only to hear the sounds of ghosts moving below them. Very soon an incredibly loud roar was heard from the canopy and something dopped to the ground seconds later. Upon hearing a thud Raven and Archon jumped to a tree where they could see what was going on more clearly. Flashes from plasma rifles could be seen with dim shadows of an ape-like predatory creature. Similar to a brute but even more fear inducing. They could hear Sangheili scream as it tore some of them apart with ease. They both documented this and decided to move on quickly before it finished with the patrol and decided to go for them.

They kept up with their painfully slow and careful approach until they finally covered the ten kilometers they set out to cover. Archon quckly found a hollow tree big enough for both of them to rest in. The moment they got into it they nearly went to sleep instantly but Raven's intentions were a little different. She wanted a little passion tonight and so did Archon but he wouldn't reveal his intentions like Raven. Shortly after arrival Raven asked Archon- What sorto f DMR is that? I've never seen one so… different. Archon replied – This is a custom made DMR which is a derivative from an experimental version of the same weapon. The biggest difference is that mine has an integrated supressor and a recoil dampening system. It's necessery because my gun is firing a slightly larger caliber with hotter loads that are explosive tipped. Raven replied while coming closer to him- That's interesting, I wonder who footed the bill for that DMR? Archon responded while pretending not to notice her- The ONI operative who „ recruited" me paid for it, she must've thought it to be worth it. Raven's curiosity piqued and a question came to her mind- Didn't you say you were never in a relationship? Were you connected in any way? Archon was a lslightly surprosed at her question and hesitated a bit before replying- My older sister didn't wanna lose her only family member on a dieing world. That's the extent of my relationship with her. Raven replied by saying- Ithought you were an only child, why did you call her your sister? Archon sighed and said- My parents adoped her when they thought they wouldn't be able to have children.

Archon began removing his helmet and staring into the darkness of the forest. Raven asked him- Wha's your real name? Archon replied- What's yours? To which Raven said- I asked first. And Archon replied. A good point my real name is Lyrrus Dralthian. Raven then proceeded to return the favor- My real name is Alexandra Smithers. To which Archon replied- I never took you for an Alexandra. Raven responded- And I never took you for a Lyrrus. What kind of name is that by the way? Archon replied by saying- Ever heard of the Lyran constellation, no. Well guess what i was named after. Raven then proceeded to whisper into his ear- I've had enough of this foreplay. Come on why don't we fool around a little bit. I know you're interested in me and that a teenager cannot resist a chance to get it on. Archon didn't even have a chance to react as Raven quickly removed her helmet and kissed him. To Archon it seemed that this kiss lasted for almost an eternity. And as soon as Raven broke off from their kiss with a somewhat sadistic smile she said- I will ruin you for any other woman. Archon said in a somewhat joking manner- What if I decide to go after non-humans instead?

Are you trying to be some freak here?-said Raven- I sort of like it, but you shouldn't push your luck. I will have even i fit is just for one night. After she said this she mounted Archon and leaned in for another kiss. Both of them were still clad in armor And Archon used the power of his boner to figure out how to remove it quickly. Archon's hands went across Raven's armor and swiftly removed it to reveal her chest, now only the armor meant to protect her lower torso. This didn't go unnoticed by Raven, she quickly caught on and tried to do the same without breaking their kiss. But unlike Archon she hadn't spent much time familiarizing with the armor they were issued. This only made Archon break from their kiss and say- Need a hand? Raven blushed slightly and said- Looks like you were planning this more than I was. Though considering how much I teased you I shouldn't be surprised. He removed the armor protecting his chest to reveal himself to her and soon they were ready to make some sweet love. Archon would make her orgasm five times while eating her out which made Raven want to take him for herself after their mission was over. And when Raven started to return the favor she started out by deepthroating him. Archon's lack of experience was hold him back as he didn't last as long as he hoped for. He exploded deep in her throat almost instantly but he lasted long enough to bed riven crazy by this new sensation. And much to Raven's surprise he was still hard and soon she would take him deep inside her. The rest of the night would be a flash of carnal pleasure and powerful orgams from both sides. Archon was already tired but this series of events made him fall asleep almost instantly. Raven looked at him collapse next to her and she embraced him shortly after he fell asleep. At this point in time she thought she should have brought some protection with her but it had slipped her mind. At this point she had grown more attached to archon han she had hoped to get.

In the morning things would be different in a very different manner from before.


	4. Chapter 4

Just before dawn Raven awoke thinking that the previous night was an incredibly real dream. But the fact that she woke up embracing young Archon was all the proof she needed, apart from the armor that was taken off. It wasn't before long that she decided to put her head on Archon's chest. She was genuinely surprised as to how quickly things happened and was slightly unnerved. Hearing Archon's heartbeat would calm her. And so she stuck in this position until she fell asleep again. Archon woke up at dawn feeling a weight on his chest he looked to see Raven's head resting on his chest. He decided to give her some more time to sleep before they were to carry out this mission. He woke Raven up after fifteen minutes to prepare for the mission. They were ten kilometers away from the enemy base and the mission would have to come first before them. They quickly put on their armor and got ready to move on. Archon locked and loaded his weapons expecting action despite the fact that their suits had active camouflage. They crossed the distance to the base in afew hours and proceeded to observe it from a distance. They both noted a pair of large vehicle hangars from which patrols were frequently being sent. As well as a large number of Banshees patroling the skies above them. This amount of firepower which was put on patrol betrayed the size of the base and its importance. Archon and Raven engaged active amouflage and proceeded to enter the base through one of the large vehicle hangars. From their they noticed a console that they could easily access and use it to gain information on the layout of the base. Acrhon took up a position ready to cover them in case ome Sangheili started coming this way to investigate what could be suspicious activity at the terminal. They were lucky and it seemed quite strange for there to be a large military presence on this world. Raven pulled the schematics and in a few minutes they had the layout of the base. It was a very large, the parti n which they were located was the south part of the base. To the north were the aircraft hangars to the east and west were stores of munitions and sleeping quarters. At the center of this base was the command center and data core. The base was a little over two kilometers large and partially extended below ground were the schematics said were holding cells and interrogation rooms. Raven also pulled whatever personell files she could without risking detection.

There appeared to be several San'Shyuum here as minor prophets. Along with a number of high ranking sangheili. Unggoy and Kig-Yar were ever present on the outer reaches of this base. They hurried to a nearby maintenance shaft in hopes of avoiding the patrols of Sangheili, Unggoy and Kig-Yar. They got past these patrols with relative ease.

Archon asked quietly over the comms while waiting for some of the patrols to pass- „Why didn't you access the main data core? It would've made our job a lot easier."

Raven replied- „If I did we would be dead already, it would have been too obvious. I'll try to get access to their battlenet at the next terminal I see."

„That would let us get better awareness of the situation-said Archon while checking if there was another patrol heading past them- as well as an idea who to target for our second part of our mission." They continued until they ran into another terminal. Here Raven got them acces to the Covenant battlenet. A stream of communications was intercepted by the two and words of several minor prophets in command of this base caught Archon's attention.

He immediately said- „We will have to split up. You go after the data center and I will go after these minor prophets."

Raven said in protest- „You know we are only concerned with the dana. That is the primary objective, we can complete the second one togther."

Archon replied by saying- „If I start killing off those San'shyuum I bet it would make the security around the data core easier to deal with. And you know it's gonna be easier if the base is off on a wild goose chase trying to protect these guys or trying to catch their killer."

Raven sighed and said- „Fine, go and kill them but then return to the hangar for a getaway. I think we'll be able to some Ghosts to get into the forest and evade possible pursuers in there."

„Copy that,-said Archon and quickly got lost in the halways while whispering in the comms- I'll be back and you know it."

Soon Raven was stuck sneaking through the bowels of the base until a broadcast on the Covenant battlenet caught hers and averyone else's attention. The screams of a San'Shyuum being broadcasted across to all of the base's inhabitants.

Archon then said on the comms- „That was the last prophet to die that was in charge of this base. And soon all of you will be hunted by me."

A Sangheili voice responded- „You are the one that will be hunted Heretic."

Soon the entire base was rushing to search fot this intruder which managed to piss them off. Raven rushed to the data core and started downloading information. Meanwhile Archon, who had gotten his hands on some Covenanat weaponry, was busy fighting whatever enemy he came across. He left a bloody trail of Sangheili, Unggoy and Kig-Yar in his wake as a means of tracking him. Soon a zealot came into his view at the end of a corridor. He was searching for any possible hiding place. Archon prepared to fire a plasma rifle he procured and unleashed a barrage of plasma towards the zealot. The rifle stopped after six shots, its battery was depleted. The zealot took some of these rounds and ignited his energy sword. Archon threw the plasma rifle at the Sangheili and took out his SMG. The zealot started charging him and was closing the distance quickly. Soon a hail of bullets was unleashed from Archon's SMG. He got his shields dow and landed a few hits but not enough to bring the zealot down. He walked right into the zealots attack and fired the thusters on his suit helivering a skullcracking hit on his helmet. The zealot fell on top of him. Archon quickly pushed the zealot off of himself and proceeded to make his way to one of the hangars. Raven on the other hand was busy with downloading the data. She was close to finishing her task when a series of heavy footsteps was heard outside the door. A Sangheili opened the door to see if the heretic was hinding here. Raven quickly engaged her active camouflage to stay hidden.

The Sangheili looked around for a moment until a another Sangheili came running past saying- „The heretic was spotted near one of the vehicle hangars. Come brother, we need as many as possible to hunt this one down and take him alive. He took out a zealot singlehanded. Our Kaidon wants him alive."

The two Sangheili started runnig towars one of the hangars. By this time Raven had finished downloading the data.

She said over the comms- „Archon I've downloaded the data I'm heading for the south vehicle hangars. Since the entire base is looking for you I'll be able to run to them in twenty minutes."

„Do it as quick as possible,- said archon- I'll be there shortly after you."

Raven started running while disengageing her active camouflage. She also fired up her thrusters to increase her speed as much as possible. Meanwhile Archon was busy choking a Kig-Yar whose corpse he intended to use for an explosive surprise. He rigged some plasma grenades on his body and prepared to fire as soon as he saw enemies near his corpse. Archon had switched to his DMR at this point and fired the moment he saw a few Sangheili passing near his explosive gift. A huge plasma blast left nothing of the the pursuing Sangheili as his shot detonated the grenades. He proceeded to make his way to the south hangars. Raven was waiting for him there trying to lift the lockdown that was set up by some Sangheili. When the doors behind her opened she turned around abnd fired off a shot at Archon.

Narrowly mising him, with him replying- „Nice reflexes, almost as though you were not a sniper."

Raven replied- „This is no time for bad humor. I need to lift the lockdown."

Archon said- „What about that Wraith over there. You could use it blow the doors open and then jump into a Ghost for a speedy getaway."

„Not a bad idea- said Raven as Archon traded shots with the base defenders- but one of us will have to get left behind."

Then archon replied by saying- „You ought to go, you're the one who downloaded the dana. I'll be distracting them."

And so Raven parted with Archon ready to complete the mission.


	5. Chapter 5

And so as Raven was leaving Archon continued to fire down the hallway with his DMR. Though it did pain both of their hearts to leave each other, the mission had to come first. Raven boarded the Wraith and blew the door open and then very quickly jumped into a Ghost to drive away into the forest. Archon still stood strong and was ankle deep i Unggoy corpses. His armor was stained with blood of most of the base's former denizens and guards. But he was getting tired and low on ammo. The fact that the sangheili wanted to spare no expense in order to find out what his mission was scared him to no imaginable extent. Soon he had to switch to his blades with energy blades. He cut doen many more Unggoy wth a few Sangheili mixed in.

Soon a Sangheili spoke out saying- „Yield human! You have nowhere to go and by yielding you might just be allowed to continue your miserable existence."

Archon responded with after seeing he had done enough- „I yield! And I am coming out!"

True to his words he walked out and removed the magazine form his DMR and cleared the chamber of the gun. Hethen proceeded to do the same with the SMG. He threw both of his weapons on the ground and removed his helmet. Meanwhile RAven was halfway to the ship's landing site. Archon was able to hold the Covenant's attention long enough to get his fellow agent the time she required to get to their ship. The Sangheili proceeded to knock Archon unconcious and drag him to a holding cell. When Archon woke up he was stripped of his armor and very heavily disoriented.

A camouflaged Sangheili standing guard soon revealed himself and proceeded to report that the prisoner had awoken.

After reporting he then said- „What an incredible chase you have given us while we were after you. You were quite impressive assassin. And I doubt that was your intention, to assasinate the San'Shyuum. You have earned our respect for some skill on your behalf and nothing more."

Archon just stood there for a while before proceeding to sit down in a corner of the holding cell. After a few minutes of silence he saw someone enter the holding area. It was another Sangheili he then proceeded to speak to speak with the guard.

„Bring out the prisoner. The kaidon wants to interrogate this one personally."- said the first Sangheili.

„Understood sir. I shall bring him immediately." – the guard responded while heading to Archon's cell.

„Get ready human! The kaidon wants to interrogate you personally. This should be a good one, he hasn't had the chance to interrogate your kind for a while. This shall be interesting"- said the guard while opening his cell.

Archon simply responded with by saying- „Finally! You know I was begining to worry that all I would do is wait in that cell and do nothing."

The Sangheili guard responded with by punching him in the stomach and dragging him to the second Sangheili. The second Sangheili Was a zealot and he looked to be a part of this Kaidon's bodyguard. Archon was quickly dragged to an interrogation chamber. Where he would be thrown into a chair by the zealot. He would have to wait for this yet unnamed Kaidon to arrive and start with whatever he intended to do with him. Archon waited for what seemed an eternity. He wasn't restrained and he was smart enough not to try anything. You don't really need to be clairvoyant to see what would happen if you try to do something. Death would ensue but archon was busy looking around the room in an attempt to fight off boredom. Then he began to think about the fact that this kaidon has zealots as his bodyguards, or rather one zealot. It wouldn't be strange if he had more zealots serving in his bodyguard. Though Archon was unfamiliar with the inner workings of the Sangheili culture or anything else for that matter. All he really knew was their language and the weapons they us, well most of them. His thinking was interrupted by the kaidon entering with two zealots by his side.

The kaidon spoke-„I am kaidon Bariss Makee. I think you know why I am here human."

„One does not have to be the smartest to know that you are here to interrogate. Apart from what you have to gain by doing this personally."- remarked Archon.

„We know you were not alone, there was someone else with you. Was it another assassin or a spy?"- asked Bariss not expecting an answer. He was prepared to respond to whatever this young human could say with torture to motivate him.

„You are correct on the part that I was not alone during my mission. Besides my fellow operative and I are both spies and assassins. It really depends on what our objectives are."- Archon responded.

Bariss was genuinely surprised as to how cooperavtive archon was. Soon Bariss responded by saying-„An unexpectedly truthful answer from your behalf. What do you hope to gain from this human?"

Archon responded by saying-„If I am to be captured I might as well try to live through my captivity without too many torture sessions or interrogations. I figure it is much easier for both myself and whoever might be interrogating myself."

Bariss laughed along with his zealots for a few minutes. He then stood up and said-„I bet you're wondering what we're doing here human. I'll tell youduring my next session but first I must meet my daughter. I brought her here in the hopes of teaching her something about your kind in order to make her a better warrior. You will prove to be of great use to me. I shall give you a deal human, be my slave and teach my daughter of your ways of fighting or stay and rot in a holding cell for the rest of our holy war."

Archon asked him-„Why would you want me to teach your daughter? Woldn't it be best for her to be taught by some of your masters? Or might it be that you think the war is going to last longer than you anticipated?"

Bariss spoke-„You needn't know my reasons, you only need to be concerned with the deal I proposed."

Archon sighed and said-„I accept your deal. However i have a question, how long was i out?"

One of the zealots answered-„You were out for three days."

After Bariss motioned for him to follow Archon proceeded to do so. Escorted by the two zealots made him feel uneasy, as though he was going to his own execution. But this didn't stop him from trying to think how he could use this very strange series of events to his advantage, when after a short distance Bariss began to speak of his true intentions.

He said-„I must thank you for assassinating those prophets. The mistrust between our races has been growing as of late. And I have begun to question their actions and choices. I want you to be my side protecting my daughter when the proohets decide that the Sangheili are worthless. Things have been tense for a while and soon we will invade Earth as you might already know. This should give my people to secede from the council and live freely."

Archon said after a short amount of time processing this somewhat shocking revelation-„I knew things were getting bad between you and the prophets but I never expected them to go bad so quickly. My guess is you will be attacking Earth soon and after a while begin to fracture for some reason yet unknown to me."

Bariss responded-„Sadly you might be correct human, though it pains me to say this but we Sangheili have much respect for your kind. You sacrifice yourselves for your sword brothers and sisters, attempt to preserve life, to protect all that you have achieved. Our cultures are very similar in some regards but I digress. You should be headed towards a settlement on this planet to be by my daughter. It's strange that I must entrust the safety of my daughter to an enemy. I will need all of my best fighters who are loyal if some treachery happens."

And with this archon was escorted to a ship and then it clicked, the base he and raven infiltrated was here because this world was a colony. He would soon be Flying towards imminent danger or death. Nevertheless this would be his chance to survive long enough to see the Covenant get ripped apart by internal conflicts. This would give humanity or whhatever reamins a chance to reverse engineer the covie tech and even be able to fight them on equal terms. But his flight had only begun and it would take several hours to reach Bariss' daughter. Meanwhile Raven was busy making a mission report and in it she would claim Archon to be missing and presumably captured. However the events of their single night of passion would lead to an unexpected turn of events farther down the line.


	6. Chapter 6

Archon's flight to this new mission seemed to last for an eternity instead of fooour hours. He spent all this time trying to figure out which species in the Covenant had colonized this planet. A certainty would be that the Sangheili did it because he saw more Sangheili than any other race. But what stood out to him was the fact that there were no Brutes or Jiralhanae as the covies called them. He was relieved for otherwise he would either be eaten, tortured, dismembered, or hunted by them. Their reputation for, no pun intended or is it, brutality was known far too well. But something inside him wanted to kill some of them for Archon kept something a secret. His home planet was attacked by the Brutes and he had to witness all of their savagery firsthand. They were unleashed because the rest of the forces felt more than a bit sadistic. The ensuing carnage across the planet lead to a desire to avenge as many as he could. Especially a younger brother which he tried to protect but failed to do so, he was succesful for a while but well let's just say that you can evade bloodthirsty creatures as a twelve year old boy with a brother five years younger for only as long as you're lucky. Not only did he witness his parent's gruesome deaths but also his little brother's, at least his little brother got swallowed whole unlike their parents who weren't so lucky. This was when he got rescued by his older stepsister. And well we all know how the rest goes.

Soon the transport was about to land and he would proceed to meet with his new „student" when in reality all he really was is a undercover bodygurad. Nevertheless he soon saw a female sangheili wearing a stylized set of armor with some robes covering parts of her body. She seemed to be around his age and curious, a bit too curious for a Sangheili but hey its what it is.

She quickly approached and started to introduce herself-„I am Feelia Makee, my father told me to expect you to teach how your kind fights. What would your name be?"

Archon was dumbstruck by er politeness and decided to respond in kind-„As far as ONI is concerned I am called Archon but my real name is Lyrrus. Pleased to meet you young lady. Might I ask you how old you are?"

Feelia didn't take too long to respond-„I am sixteen, and you?"

„We're both the same age."-responded Archon. This was something rare as he couldn't really have time to spend with others that were the same age as he was during his training and later in his service with Oni.

„I am quite curious about your kind Archon. Is it fine if I call you archon?"

„It's fine lady Feelia. But would mind if we continued this converstion a bit later. I would like to know where I will be living while I am teaching you.?"

„Certainly, follow me."- said Feelia while leading Archon to his quarters.

Archon was genuinely surprised when he saw a message on a terminal in his quarters saying that he is to share his quarters with his new student. He was fuming for a little while knowing fully whose orders these were. The next three weeks were a blur of hand to hand combat lessons as well as strategy and tactics. He had grown fond of his new and frankly only student and soon started to notice that she was exceeding his ability to teach. However this would be shortlived for the Brutes had betrayed the Sangheili under the orders of the prophets of Truth, Regret and Mercy. Their ships appeared in orbito f this colony and the Sangheili who had been informed by others of their kind were somewhat prepared. Their arrival was not expected this soon and so flashes of plasma from AAA batteries were visible all over the planet. The Brutes came in the thousands however they did not wish to glass this world. They wished to claim it as their own and make it into a hunting ground. Their wicked desires were not unachievable. Despite the Sangheili's best efforts the beasts were landing all over the planet. And soon Both Archon and Feelia would be on the run to whatever spaceworthy craft here was nearby. The world was lost but it was being lost incredibly slowly due to numerous fortified positions all ovet it.

Archon received an order from Bariss. The directions were clear, get off world and to a much safer location. He did not hesitate and grabbed a carbine with his DMR. He had managed to get his hands on to some of his gear. Feelia folowed suit grabbing a crabine and taking an energy sword. They both decided to head towards an unfinished ship. A scout ship to be exact, not armed to the teeh nor boasting the greatest armor or shields, but it was slipspace capable. Some Sangheili decided to follow them as well saying that it can be finished quickly. They were the workers assigned to buld it and as they said they could have it running within five hours. Only some minor but still important work had to be done to make it completely safe for space trevel. But they had to get to it first and the way was chock full of Brute patrols and improvised bases for unloading troops and supplies. Luckily this strange group of Sangheili with a human wasn't being targeted y the Brutes. They numbered around sixty and would immediately start planning their route to this scout ship. The decision was made to split up into groups of five in order to minimize the danger of being detected. Besides the fact that it was easier to sneak, it would also be easier to move in smaller groups and give them all a chance to avoid death as a group.

Not the most charming of prospects but at least it was something. Archon and Feelia were in the same group and were meant to move trough the hardest terrain. The Brutes were avoiding it like the plague for a yet unknown reason to this merry band of souls. They decided to try and avoid the various patrols through there. They quickly ran as far away as possible from the nearest patrol and into said terrain. They found out quickly as to why this terrain was avoided. It was not obvious at first but they hadn't noticed the glassed ground beneath their feet. It was noticed only when insoming plasma artillery from a nearby Sangheili base started hitting near their position. The entire area they were currently on was previously scouted and mapped for artillery strikes. This new series of events made them wish they were taking their chances with the Brutes, but it wasn't all bad. They at least weren't hunted by the Brutes. And strangely enough archon was worrying about, his thus far, only student. He had grown fond of Feelia for some strange reason. It could be the fact that this was his only chance to teach someone to act as his successor so to speak. It was almost as though he viewed her as a younger sibling because of their limited yet still well spent time together. But still he didn't have a reason to be worried, everybody knows Sangheili are faster than humans because of their leg structure.

After about an hour of dodging incoming artillery they managed to get to their destination. Well closer to their destination to be clear but it still wasn't that far away. They were near a cliff overlooking te area where the scout ship was. They had an excellent vantage point and some time to rest. Archon simply took up his DMR and looked through his scope to see if there were any threats around their one and only ticket out of here. There were no brutes in the vicinity of the ship but he could see some of the other Sangheili in the distance. Some where almost as close as they were, and a few who took the quicker reoutes were not aywhere near. There were only flashes of plasma shots and muffled screams in the distance. Some of the paths lead through the forest so it could have been the local wildlife. But Archon was strangely suspicious and warned his relatively new comrades that there might be trouble.

And trouble came all too quickly for Archon's liking, there were Brute patrols closing in on some of the Sangheili that had arrived near the scout ship. Archon's group hurried to the ship ina n attempt to help the few exhausted Sangheili who were there. Soon a massive firefight ensued. Plasma tore througgh the cool air, the surroundings were illuminated by the glow od plasma. Archon and Feelia were the first to react and kill the first patrol. They were barely a dosen of them. And more would soon come.


	7. Chapter 7

Very quickly after dispatching the first patrol Archon did a head count. There were about twenty Sangheili with him.

Immediately after sseing this he said-„Young lady Feelia get inside the ship, You'll be safer there. There is no room or time for protest. Whoever is an engineer should go with her as well and get the ship ready for liftoff. The rest of us will remain outside to wait for the rest."

Although Feelia disapproved she would not go without a little protest. She wanted to fight but was quickly reminded by all of them that she is a daughter o fan important figure on this planet. In the end she relented and entered the ship with six engineers. Archon and the rest of the Sangheili were busy setting up in defensive positions to await the others. A few more arrived and increased their toatal numbers to about thirty with ten of them being engineers. That left about nineteen of them outside on the defensive. Another group came in with two patrols hot on their tails. An ambush ensued in which the Brutes were slaughtered far too quickly for anyone's liking.

Meanwhile the engineers managed to get some of the ship's sytems operational. One of the first things to get activated were the weapons, while this was only a scout ship it was pretty well armed. Though it seem to be a bit too large for a military vessel to be used as one. In fact it was a civilian vessel that was being repurposed for military use by the planetary garrison. It was rather large even for this purpose, to be fair tough it was being converted into what could be described as a light escort/scout ship. Feelia stood ready inside the ship expecting brutes to come rushing in at any moment. But she could only wait inside while Archon and the rest of the warriors waged battle with the Brutes outside of the vessel.

Meanwhile on the outside of the ship A few more arrived and swelled their number to thirtyeight, the rest were killed by the patrols in the area. And very soon a pretty big attack came this time with a lot of Unggoy and Kig-Yar. The fight took longer than the others with even more brutality. The defenders still stood strong though just barely. The engineers inside the ship were nearly done with their preparations. Another attack came and this time more intense. Plasma grenades flew, gravity hammers impacted the gound with thunderous boom as they missed their targets. Spikers were fired blindly at Archon and the other Sangheili. Archon got hit in his legs, pretty badly. And he wasn't the only one that was wounded. Many others were also wounded and mircaulously no one died yet. The decision was made to fly out of there. Feelia felt sick after seeng the aftermath of the battle. There were so many wounde and Archon was hit pretty bad.

The ship engaged it's shields and powered it's drive systems in preparation for liftoff. In the meantime archon was being carried into the ship's infirmary and Feelia was worried sick. She had grown fond of her so called teacher whom she found out to be a bodyguard. Despite not having much understanding of what was going on she could simply watch and listen to the surgeon operate on Archon during liftoff. Archon had nothing to numb the pain of spikes being pulled form his legs, some from muscle and others from bone. In the end he lost his legs, he could never use them. He couldn't recover from the massive amount of damage he received. The rest of the Sangheili wounded and unscathed did the same as their young lady. The screams of a fellow warrior for whom they began to have great respect impacted heavily upon their minds.

All of them were thinking about the frailties of humans, their weaknesses, their flaws and how they overcome all of that in combat. To them it didn't matter anymore what species Archon was. For he had shed blood for them both his own and that of their enemies. It was a while since Archon had fainted in the infirmary and awoke to see the warriors stand all around him. They wanted to pay him the respect that was due for he had surpassed most of their expectations with regarding humans in battle.

The engineers were busy trying to build him his replacements for his legs, for he had earned it in their minds. And Feelia, whou upon hearing that he had woken up, rushed to the infirmary to embrace her teacher/bodyguard. This was a strange moment for the rest of this crew and they left them alone for the time being. Feelia was very happy for the survival of her new teacher. But she was rather restrained in herr outward appearance. Both of them found it strange when the crew was here to give their respect to this new and, until recently, unproven addition to their forces. Feelia wasted no time in questioning Archon about the battle they waged without her. Archon spent quite a bit of time describing the battle in as much detail as he could. But his strength was slowly fading and he was getting tired. Feelia caught onto this and she took it a bit easy on him.

Then Archon asked-„I wonder as to why this ship wasn't stocked with medical supplies? Though I bet it wasn't meant to be equipped in any meaningful way for scouting just yet. It is a refit after all. And how did I not know that there was a Surgeon among us?" His tired look gave Feelia a feeling that the closest thing she had to a friend was about to fade.

She answered-„I am as surprised as you are to the presence of a surgeon among us. Though to be honest we were in a settlement so this wasn't as unexpected as you might thin it to be."

Archon yawned and replied-„You are right on that one. Now if you will excuse me but I need to get some rest. I lost a loto f blood and I am feeling incredibly sleepy."

While the rest of the Sangheili were surprised with this human's abilities they thought of him very highly. Well their opinion of him increased by a fair bit since they were in a battle with him. Though they were surprised at how severe his wounds were they still thought he wouldn't lose his legs. And while their ship was flying in slipspace towards a yet unknown set of coordinates Raven was on Earth thinking of her time spent with Archon.

While she tried to make herself believe that he was nothing special she couldn't help but find her thoughts wander away to Lyrrus. She started calling him by his first name in her thoughts. She knew he was alive, he might have gotten himself captured or stranded somewhere else but at he was alive. She found herself thinking of him more and more frequently since arriving to Earth and completing their mission. For someone who took great pride in being a cold and detached operative this was strange. What was even stranger was the fact that she thought of Archon by his real name rather than the one he used as an operative.

Meanwhile Archon was sleeping like a log in the infirmary of the scoutship, he had been asleep for several hours. The covenant surgeon was busy working with the engineers who wanted to give Archon prosthetic legs. After a heated debate they decided to go for cybernetics with the surgeon firmly believing it would be far better for Archon. They set about designing and making said replacements while the surgeon was looking to create some anaesthesia since this ship wasn't really equipped for anything. But at least not all of them were able to make i tor else they might have had to leave some og them behind. The ship only had enough room for forty crew and wasn't in as good of a state as they thought it was. It's hull was just good enough for space travel not really spaceworthy, well at least it's shield and weapons systems worked. It would be quite some time before they would arrrive to their yet unknown destination which would take them close to the Solar system.


	8. Chapter 8

Archon's trip was a bit longer than expected, or it seemed to be longer. During his sleep he overheard an interesting talk between the surgeon and one of the engineers.

The surgeon said-„Why are you complainig? You aren't theone with inadequate supplies."

„Unlike you, surgeon, I and the rest of my brothers were meant to be working on this ship for longer than normal. That's why this vessel has no supplies for your line of work. Thoughh you managed somehow."

„That is true but I do not want to lose warriors who lived through a battle beacause I didn't have the things I need. I should thank you for helping find something to use as anaesthesia. It would be difficult to get this human his new legs attached properly."

„Have you ever operated on humans before, Or have you just read some of the reports on them?"

„I have only read the reports. They are far too frail for war if you ask me."

„You have to give them credit though. How many species do you know of to have held out this long against a technologicaly superior force for this long. I can't even remember for how long we've been fighting."

„A strong argument my firend. But stil lit baffles the mind that these weak creatures were able to hold out this long. With a limited set of actually effective ship to ship weapons."

„It does baffle the mind now doesn't it? I for one am glad to have been able to see a human in my lifetime. They are supposed to get extinct, aren't they? Tell me surgeon are cybernetic replacements common among them?"

„It would appear to be so among some of them. They believe that if one has survived long enough in battle or has suffered an injury where they lost a limb should have it replaced. Hard to imagine that they survived this long without discovering much in th way of Forerunner relics."

„Hopefully he will get used to these legs quickly enough. We need some extra help on the ship."

This is when the surgeon administered anasthesia to Archon and knocked him out. Severeal hours later archon woke up with a new set of legs, rather fancy and advanced set of legs. He immediately proceeded to try them out. Within a matter of hours he was ready to depart the infirmary and proceed to tour the ship. It would take him several hours to do so. The ship had the crew quarters in the very center, with a decently sized cargo hold in the rear of the ship. The main reactor was just slightly below the crew quarters, this eemed like an odd placement for any ship design to Archon. Still he was a bit amazed as to how well the ship looked. In between the bridge and crew quarters were the sparring and practice areas for the crew. These seemed to have been added, or rather modified when the ship was being modified for it's new life.

By the time he was done the ship had dropped out of slipspace. Soon he was called to the bridge to help with navigation. By this point in time they were rather close to earth and Archon suggested taking them there. Unbeknownst to them the Arbiter had already negotiated a truce and was working on an alliance with the UNSC. They were surprised as to how welcome they were, well they were more welcome than the Covenant who aws currently trying to look for the portal to the Ark.

It was not long before Raven had heard of a group of Sangheili with a human that were going to land nearby. Usually ONI would not miss the chance to gain some more information on the Sangheili in case their allianceturns sour, but this was primarily Raven going rogue for a while. It would take some time for her to get to that base. While archon was trying to get the Sangheili to be a bit more friendly to the rest of the base. He succeeded, to a degree. At least the marines and the Sangheili were not too hostile to each other. And this was more o fan achievement than the Arbiter's truce and subsequent alliance with humanity. Most of the personnel on the base was rather hostile as you could imagine. The Snagheili were their primary enemy for the entirety of the war galssing planets and killing millions. All that archon wanted to do now was to find a way to escape service with ONI.

He thought of this while trying to show Feelia around the base. The Arbiter was being contacted by Feelia's father to see if he knew anything of her whereabouts. This converstion was interrupted by a marine asying that some Sangheili showed up with a human. He also added that one of the Sangheili was the daughter of some high ranking Sangheili.

The arbiter responded-„There you have it Bariss, It would appear as though your daughter might be here. Though I cannot fulfil your request at the moment. Battle calls. The humans say they intercepted communications about the Demon being seen somewhere near here. I will have to retrieve him with the humans."

Bariss noded and cut comms. He was relieved to know the possible loaction of his daughter. For those of you who want to know the battle on that planet wnt well for the Sangheili. But they suffered heavy casualties before a fleet appeared in the system to help the Sanghili on the planet. The battle in space was just as bloody and brutal as the battle on the planet below. The Sanheili fleet suffered a few crippled ships, but the brute fleet, who was taken by surprise, suffered rather heavy casualties before retreating. They Brutes that wre stranded on the planet would be killed off either by the local wildlife or the Sangheili looking for some revenge fot their heavy losses.

But Archon was glad to be on somewhat familiar ground, the reason why it it was somewhat familiar was that he hadn't spent any quality time on Earth. Nevertheless he would try to look for Raven himself before ONI noticed he was back. But neither Raven nor Archon knew that ONI had bigger fish to fry, well try to anyway. Archon and Raven met again just as Archon was planning to get out of the base. You couldn't tell who was happier to see who. This was strange to some but nobody really batted an eye to this. To Archon's great surprise he found out that Raven had really grown fond of him. Unbeknownst to Raven a curious Feelia came looking for Archon. Raven looked back Archon remembering what he said about hooking up with an alien.

Archon sighed and statred talking-„It really is not waht you think. I'm supposed to be her bodyguard, it was parto f a deal I made with her father. And before you ask I didn't lose my legs to the Sangheili, I lost them to the overglorified apes whoywere trying to take the planet."

Raven hadn't noticed that Archon had a new pair of legs. She was slightly freaked out by this but she kept a straight face. When he introduced Feelia to Raven they were somewhat unsure what they were really doing here. After a few awkward exchanges between both Feelia and Raven they became friends. They did his much faster than Archon had thought it would it take. After a few hours of converstaion it was getting dark and archon had decided to visit the Medical personnel on the base before continuing anywhere. Hew went for quick chech up just in case the Sangheili surgeon messed something up. He was pretty much fine though the docs told him to take it easy for the next few days.

When he got out of the infirmary he was ready to go to sleep. Raven was waiting for him outside to show him the way to their quarters. Yet again Archon was surprised to hear this come out of Raven's mouth. To him this seemed a little rushed but he wasn't opposed to this. ONI operatives always get their way almost anywhere. So even if he was opposed he'd have no choice whatsoever. The two retired for the night.


	9. Chapter 9

After Archon and raven headed to their quarters archon simply collapsed on the bunk. He was far too tired to really care about anything other than sleep. He actually fell asleep while collapsing on the bunk. Raven lied down next to him choosing to snuggle him until she fell asleep. The next morning Archon woke up feeling like he was reborn. Raven was still sleeping next to him, clining to him all the while. He found it strange for someone like her to really want to be in a relationship with him. He decided to wait a bit longer to wake her up, besides he sort of liked his situation.

After a while Raven woke up and soon both were up after a little momwnt of awkwardness on Archon's behalf. They headed towards the mess hall to get some breakfest. On their way there Feelia joined them. She was rather curious about human cuisine, well apart form the human way of fighting. She had tried some MRE-s last night. Just as the rest of the soldiers she grew a massive dislike of this „attrocity of a meal" as she amd the rest of the Sangheili said it. But on the bright side the marines finally had something else to really complain about when it came to their rations. When the former enemies of humanity begin to take pity on their food instead of the many who were killed during the war gave them a new perspective.

In the word of the Sangheili-„If you had actual food to give you strength you could have fought well enough to be a part of the Covenant."

However their impressions improved upon getting a taste of some of the real food that the rest of the soldiers get to eat whenever they are stationed somewhere wtith a cook. This did not phase Archon, for his mind was on other matters. He thought of wiping his own data within ONI's databanks. But he got discouraged after thinking about the security systems in place. He would have to find a way to circumvent them or he would die a horrible death. The red stain on the wall kind of death which would make anyone shudder when they thought about it. Raven had the same idea. Her glances directed at Archon gave him that impression. At this point they both became worried about the Flood.

Then Archon had an epiphony regarding his plan. If the Flood would hit Earth then and only then would he have a chance to wipe his dana off the ONI database. But this could also end in equally horrifying manner. Nevertheless he thought about all the time. After a few hours with Feelia and Raven there was a communication alert for the ONI operatives. They quickly disappeared into the nearest briefing room.

In there they were informed that the Flood was detected on High Charity. While quite a shock this was only after Masterchief haad crashed on Earth that day. The dana on his suit was disturbing at best. The notion that High harity was an infested object capable of FTL was enough of a scare for everyone. Archon and Raven prepared for whatever would happen next. While the Flood was known of they were neglected for some timw by ONI who viewed the Covenant as the bigger threat. This changed form this day onwards. Archon and Raven were given their mission. They were to place a great number of sensors across the planet in an attempt to increase the chances of detecting the infection's movement in the region. This mission was given any remaining operatives on Earth. Raven and Archon both put on their prototype armors. It was not as strange to know that ONI prepared to mass produce the asme ones they both used when they retrieved the intel from the covie base many weeks ago. But neither of them expected to be able to wear the same armor, just somewhat improved. Now the shields and the miiniaturuzed thrusters could be run at the same time, as was the amount of artificial muscle.

„Do you know where the ship we used during our intel recovery is? I'd like to use it for the sensor mission."- said Archon while they were gearing up.

„Yes I do but are you sure it's gonna be just for this mission?"- said Raven in a way that insinuated possible usess later on.

„Maybe, maybe, I guess we'll find out when the time comes."- responded archon in a strangely maniacal manner.

They geared up a bit to quickly for event he Sangheili. Feelia barely caught up to them to see them off on their way to their starship. Archon and Raven got onto a Mongoose and rode off in the direction Raven said their ship was located. They were about to have a few hours of driving through the strange feeling surroundings. It was not unwarranted, there have been sightings of Brutes in the area. This did not alarm them as they armed up the same way as the last time they were together. Archon's DMR and SMG combo was specific to this somewhat vengeful individual. Raven's high powered sniper rifle and pistol were not as specific as Archon's but they were recognizable.

After several hours of driving the two searched the are for any signs of hostiles. When they were sure that there wasn't any they quickly boarded their ship. After a few system checks and a quicks scan, which revealed that the ship was now equipped with a thorium reactor, they took off. Only during their flight did they notice that their ship had ben modified to better suit space travel. It's armament remained the same, six froward facing modified spartan lsers with an additional four being turreted and four missile pods. The ship fel more manouverable since the last time they had flown it. But it also meant that it was more expensive and ready for a greater degree of production. They moved back to the base where they originally resided and picked up the sensor nodes.

A few hours and several dosen sensor node drops with a few Banshee kills confirmed in between the sensor drops. They still weren't finished, at least a dozen more remained to be dropped. Both Raven and Archon were tired despite the fact that they weren't doing much in terms of actual physical labor. When they were finally finished and got back to the basethey found it to be abandoned with a message left on a nearby terminal.

It was an attack order on a nearby Brute encampment. A second message popped up shortly after they read this one. It contained orders to destroy the base. Several flood infested ships had been spotted in nearby systems. A scorched Earth policy was to be enacted ina n attempt to keep the flood form getting to a hidden cloning facility below this base. Both Ravena n d Archon were surprised with this order but they prepared to xecute it nevertheless. After half and hour of setting up a very large amount of explosives they were ready. They blasted off in ther ship and a few minutes later the detonation shook their ship quite hard.

They both questioned why they had to destroy the base, but it had to be done. The less the Flood know the better. They headed off to another base, but this one was a complete secret only known to ONI operatives. What would happen next would truly make them surprised, and noti n a good way.


	10. Chapter 10

It tppk some time for Raven and Archon to get to their destination. They knew of the base from references in some ONI files. It was suposed to be some kind of fall back position for any operative. But the weird thing was that there were no personnel here, the place felt awfully silent and instilled a feeling of fear. They landed here hoping to get some more missiles for their ship. They went inside to investigate a little. Then another ship landed next to theirs. Out came two more operatives. They said they were called Denizen and Basin. Not that different from ONI's norms regarding the code names for their operatives. Both Raven and Archon were a bit on the cautious side. After few tense moments they both realised that they were here for the same reason denizen and Basin were.

They talked for a little while and decide to check out the insides of the base. Everyone agreed that would be for the best. They entered through a large blast door. Moments after their entry an eery silence broken only by the humming of electrical devices struck them. Both Denizen and Basin went in, unlike Raven and Archon they were somewhat familiar with this base. They were here before but not for long enough to know the exact layout of the base. All four went towards the command center. Their entry into the room was met with a lot of blood and gore all ober the place. There were bones littered across the floor, most were broke n and unrecognizable. To Archon it was clear that this was the doing of Brutes, their handywork is unmistakable when comes to treating their enemies or prisoners. Everyone went on high alert because there were no signs of the base being clear. Their fears were realized when heavy thumps were heard down a long hallway. Raven and Denizen jumped along with Archon to cover that hallway while Basin accessed the files in the database. Basin hoped he would get a clue as to what transpired here. The trio kept close watch on the hallway ready to open fire at a moments notice. Basin gasped as he realized the base was used for interrogations of prisoners with the current batch mostly consisting of Brutes.

Raven, Archon and Denizen opened fire down the hall barely illuminating the area with their muzzle flashes. All of their rounds hit but that wasn't the only Brute. A few dozen that were behind him started charging towards the source of gunfire. Basin decided to bail thinking this wasn't worth risking his life. While Denizen, Archon and Raven continued to open fire down the hall. It proved to be of little effect as only three more of these beasts fell dead. Raven and Archon both decided to run back to their ship and try to laser bastards when they went after them.

Denizen caught on a bit too slowly and was lagging behind. The brutes roared behind him, a few monents later all that could be heard was screaming from down the hall. Raven and Archon kept running towards the landing bay Where Basin must have gotten to but he got turned around in the base. He di find his way to the landing pad just in thenick of time to save his skin.

The Brutes came out to the landing bay a lot more quickly than any of them had expected. The beasts massive frames were surprised in a rather unpleasant way to be more precise the violently vaporizing way. The smell of burned and/or vaporized Brute was rather good. Needless to say that after Nearly shitting himself Basin got back into the base. Archon and Raven took to the skies to see if there were any patrols left.

All that Basin discovered while in there was that some idiot forgot to do some maintenance on one of the cells housing a Brute. The insanely strong beast that was in that cell got out first and killed the base personnel. All of this occured two days ago. Needless to say all three of these wiped the base out since there was no point in keeping it. But what truly shocked them was the fac that ONI didn't even bother telling it's operatives to take care with secret bases such as this one. Though it was not as i gof a secret as some might think, well at least this late in the war.

Raven and Archon headed to yet another base except his one was occupied by friendly forces and it had no apparent boons. The point is that they heade somewhere they could rest after today. Their arrival was met with mixed views at the base. It was not too surprising since ONI isn't liked almost everywhere it sets foot let alone ONI's operatives who serve as it's instruments. Here they would stay for a few days waiting for orders. Archon used this time to see where Feelia and the rest of the Sangheili went. It was of no surprise that they left to join up with the closest fleet engaged in battle with the Brutes.

Meanwhile Raven used this time to get more and more intimate with Archon. They both liked the time they spent together and eventually they would end up in an actual realtionship. All of this went flying right over their heads when the order to attack the Covenant digging near New Mombasa. Everyone was readying themselves for the bowel oozening tah twas to come, for they were certain to meet some heavy resistance on the way.

Raven and Archon had different plans, they would over to the nearest ONI database and wipe archon's dana off of it. Only one of hem could go missing from the official records. However their mission was to secure the dana stored there, who would say anything if some dana got corrupted. And so they deaprted in their ship as the assault began. Some help was given to the UNSC frigates on their way to New Mombasa to alleviate some level of previously entioned bowel oozening. It wa smade apparent that their plans aould not be as smooth as they had hoped them to be. But their plan would work.

They landed at the location of the ONI databes and proceeded to change the level of corruption on files to suit their needs far better. However Basin was there which screwed with their plans somewhat but at least he was onbard with them. Though this was more beacause he was sick of his career at this point in his life. Raven also wiped his files. All three of them took off except for archon who stayed in the ship with which he and raven came in. Basin went his separate way leavingthe location of his ship to Raven. It was a fair distance away from their location.

Archon gave Raven a ride to Basin's ship and would soon be heading towards the Sangheili. It was at this point that the Flood entered Earth's atmosphere. Their crash was quite a spectacle but also a grave threat to everyone present. Archon made it clear that Raven needed to leave as soon as possible. The Flood would soon begin poring out of the infested ship and look for potential vectors of infestation. It was really about to hit the fan and archon decided to try and help whoever was left of the attacking forces by providing fire support and reco n of the area. He would try to report or destroy any Flood visible from his ship.

After some time Basin contacted him saying-„I think you're as sick of ONI's bullshit as much as I am. I wanna help some marines trapped in the city , you could provide recon and fire support If you're feeling up to it."

It took a few seconds for archon to respond-„You got my attention Basin. Where do you need me?"

„I need you high in the sky as fire support in case shit gets close to the fan."- he said with a lot of surprise in his voice. He didn't really think Archon would help with anyything like this.

„This shit's gonna get real hot Basin. I see a lot of movement down there and it ain't friendly."

Basin simply reacted by starting to move to the nearest location where marines were holding up. Meanwhile Archon was busy discharging his lasers to clear the way for Basin as much as he could. Basin still had to use his gun but this way he didn't have to use it a whole lot. The marines reacted with surprise and almost shot Basin thinking he was infected by the Flood. After a moment spent explaining they headed out ot help Basin save some more.

Above them Archon was busy yet again ,trying to find them a route to the next location of marines that would not be filed with all sorts of horrible creatures. He would clear out the Flood until the lasers began to overheat, but he was sparing the missiles for something else. This went on for a few hours and in the end only a few marines survived. Archon tried his best to protect the ones that were left but it was futile. There were too many infection and combat forms for him to even be able to make a difference. Yet he still tried to keep their numbers manageable. In the end this proved to be pointless as a beam of plasma nearly hit him while circling Basin's position.

All that remained was glass after the beam hit the ground. In the end all he did proved pointless as he broke for high orbit to try and figure out what was going on.


	11. Chapter 11

And there he was in orbit over Earth intercepting dozens of communications to try and figure out what happened. He picked up some information about the Sangheili fleet being under orders form someone called R'tas. This was a name he'd never heard of and upon further investigation he found out that this Sanngheili had a whole lot more experience with the Flood. Though Archon did question it in the beginning he made up his mind towards the end. All he really knew about the Flood was that it was some sort of ancient biological weapon, rather he was made to believe that. He waited in orbit for a while pondering the possibility of joining the Sangheili fleet. In the end he made his decision and contacted them.

It took some time to explain why he wanted to join, but all of a sudden Bariss interfered. He vouched for Archon and repeated incessantly that he had already „recruited" him a while ago as a bodyguard. He would follow the Sangheili through the portal that lead to the Ark. He was quite nervous about going to action with the Sangheili. But his nerves were steeled when hr thought of the fact that he was no longer working for ONI. He would stick close to Bariss' ships.

Though they were few in number they were very experienced, well more experienced than Archon that is. When they went tthrough the portal Archon was ready to be under fire since entry into the space around the Ark. A rather pleasant surprise was in store, one in which the Brutes parked their ships a fair distance form the portal's entrance. They were outnumbered heavily but the Brutes weren't bright enough to try and coordinate properly in the ensuing fight. They were clumsy and slow to react to a few manouvers, in short Archon was much less danger than the larger Sangheili ships. Archon made rapid a rapid advance towards an unsuspecting frigate in the beginnig of the battle. He made sure to cripple its engines and make it an easy target for the rest of the Sangheili ships. He did this throughout the entire battle and even scored fair amount of kills.

There were several close moments when he was almost driven into cruiser fire by some Banshees and Phantoms. But he continued being a nuissance throughout the fight until he got hit by a copious amount of incoming plasma rounds. Needless to say he had to back off. He went to Bariss's ship where he was received for repairs.

Archon hadn't know the extent of the damage on his ship until he saw it in the hangar. The scroched hull of the ship barely withstood the hits. The space battle was at its end, well close to it. A few of the Brute ships who survived ran away through the Ark portal. The rest went to land on the ark itself.

What followed was a warm welcome from Bariss and his crew. Kaledon was surprised to see them celebrating when thereal threat was on the other side of the portal. But he then remembered the fact that a major victory was avout to take place. The last of the prophets remained on the Ark and it would be up to the Arbiter to kill him. But tonight was going to be a rather busy one for the repair crews. The Sangheili ships suffered some losses but most of their ships were simply heavily damaged.

This changed nothing since victory would be near for in the days to come the last of the prophets wpuld be slain and they would leave to a place where they would be safe from the Halo array. A truly magnificent weapon system made as last resort. Such were the houghts of Archon on the Foreruners. And in these past few days he had grown an interest in them. Well their military at least.

After the firing and subsequent signing of a peace treaty between humanity and the Sanheili Archon started doing work for Bariss back on the same colony world where he was firstly employed. It was mostly bodyguard duty for Feelia. And rather unexpectedly she had participated in the final space battle. Archon was pleasantly surprised as she found herself to be very proud of this.

She had every right to be proud, though it would be the only time she would see battle. There would be plenty of time before Raven would contact Archon as well. This was far more along the lines of being a break up. This did not phase Archon too much at first but it began to show much later. For the most part he was wondering why would Raven do this. He justified it by saying that it was impossible for her to join hi min his new life in any way. And seeing that she couldn't be with him she decided to cut him loose.

He got over with the help of Bariss who introduced him to a harem of Sangheili women. Both Archon and the women were sceptical at first but when the women realized that he was renowned warrior they were all over him. And so he spent his time between guarding Feelia and doing various missions for Bariss. It was not long before he even started to equip himself with their armor and weapons.

His ship was the firs to get a makeover. Ablative armor and shield systems more adavanced than he could dream of. Then there were the weapons the old modified spartan lasers got replaced with more powerful plasma wepons. He even had a pair of plasma torpedo launchers installed. The interior was another story alltogether. The redesign lead to better reactor and slipspace drive, hell he even had more room for himself and a few more crewmates.

This came in handy when was sent out on missions with Sangheili who were inexperienced. At this point it had been two years since the battle of the Ark. He and Feelia remember it fondly. It was Archon's first space battle and Feelia's first actual battle. And for the first time ever both of them looked into eachothers eyes with unknown passion. Their relationship of student and master was long since surpassed as well as their friendship. It's just that they realized it in that moment that there was some attraction between them. Feelia's father noticed it as well.

But it would be a bit longer until Archon and Feelia would be together. He had a mission to do with new and more advanced armor than before. He geared up before heading to the briefing room. His new armor was of a lighter alloy and far better quipped. A vast suite of sensors and better shielding, the only personal touch was the paintjob miniaturized thrusters. He liked this idea both for zero G combat and movement and boosting his own movement on other planets.

The briefing room was filled with other Sangheili more badass than he ever could be. Yet they all showed him a level of respect that no human other than Masterchief would receive. Though he was far from being an actual spartan his skils did prove to be rather impressive, for a human. The briefing started quickly. There was a hologram depicting a long lost Forerunner warship.

Archon immediately knew their mission would either be capture or destroy. Though capture is far more likely since Forerunners are viewed as gods among the Sangheili. Nevertheless he would do what was asked of him.

The plan was as follows: Archon and several scout ships would arrive first and scan the Forerunner ship. After scanning they are to board and to attempt reactivation. In the mean time a fleet of ten frigates and two cruisers will arrive to secure their target. They are not the only after such valuable prey after all there still are remnants of the Covenant.

The plan was a simple smash and grab, well without smashing but the point has already been made. But there was a posibility o fit turning into an actual smah and grab. All of the Sangheili present would begin headingto their vessels immediately. This was an immediate action since there was no telling who else might have discovered the ship.

Their slipspace jump towards that ship would reveal someone who is not a parto f the Covenant remnants.


	12. Chapter 12

It was on his way to the hangar bay that he noticed how many of them were going to advance to te Forerunner ship. The hangar was filled to the brim with all sorts of warriors and various scout ships. Archon made sure to head towards his ship to check if there were any other details on the Forerunner ship.

He was not disappointed, and immediately started to study the schematics of the ship. From it's size and possible armament it looked like a cruiser. He continued to look for anything that looked like the bridge or reactor. This was crucial for it's reactivation. If you aren't able to restart the ship without the abiliy to control it just means someone else might do it for you. And that someone doesn't have to be friendly towards you. He didn't even notice when Feelia came aboard and sat down next to him.

It was at this moment he noticed they were the only ones aboard.

Archon spoke first-„I take it your father let you do this mission?"

„Yes, but how did you know?"-she said rather curiously.

„I don't need to be psychic in order to know the likey cause for your being here. Besides there's soomething I've been meaning to ask you. How is it that you know your father? Aren't you supposed to be raised by maternal uncles?"- asked Archon wanting to satisfy his longterm curiosity.

„We didn't have much time for tradition on this world, we were far more concerned with survival and building a decent place to live. And some sacrifices had to be made for us to do so."

Archon was stunned for a little while and prepped the ship for launch. In the midst of all his actions he simply nodded when Feelia finished her answer. Unlike Archon Feelia was a bit nervous for this mission. She was afraid she would do something to embarass her new, and rather strange love interest. Archon was oblivious to this at the time and he paid no attention to Feelia.

He was busy with flying the ship into orbit. When they came into postion to launch both of them were thrown deep into their seats when the engines kicked in. The upgrades Archon chose for his vessel's drive systems were worth their weight in gold. It was not long before they were in orbit waiting for the rest of the Sangheili meant to come with them.

When everyone finally got into orbit, they all jumped towards their target. The journey would take them a few days to complete. Most of that time would be spent preparing for whatever they may encounter on the ship.

The time passed rather quickly for everyone during their journey. When they appeared near the derelict vessel they were prepared for a fight. But here was nothing but a few anomalies. Archon was sceptical of these readings but he still carried on with the mission. His was the first one to dock with the Forerunner ship. Both he and Feelia headed for the bridge hoping to see if they could gain control over some of the systems.

Very soon it was clear that there was someone trailing them. Their allies were landing all over the ship and doing their best to make sure there was no nasty surprise. All that they found were the long lost logs of the crew who died a long time ago. Ii was rather difficult to get all of these records transmitted to their leader, but it was done far more quickly than anyone expected.

The ship's reactor was found to be damaged beyond repair. It had become apparent that there was soemone who didn't want this ship to belong to anyone. By the time archon and Feelia were at the ship's bridge they found themselves on the verge of an ambush. The ones trailing them were ONI operatives for sure, who else could claim they were capable of stalking someone with hinting that they were gonna makre an ambush.

This did not change their situation. They were teh ones who were unaware of thefact that they were made out by the unlikely pair of Archon and Feelia. All this did was make their deaths all the more foolish looking in retrospect. In reality all that happened was that Archon and Feelia opened fire on them when they were getting into position. Here's a word of advice for those who are in themood for stealth: just because you're camouflaged doesn't mean you're not making noise whilemoving around.

Needless to say the fight lasted for about five minutes and was quite the turkey shoot. Other than that it was quite uneventful. Afterwards they warned the rest of their comrades of their encounter. The ship was about to be soured by every single Sangheili in serach for ONI operatives. This all went down almost without a hitch. There were some additional ambushes to deal with and were more successful than the one with Archon and Feelia.

Archon and Feelia were making their way to the ancient vessel's bridge to see how much sabotage was done to it. Their immediate access to the systems revealed that the entirety of the ship was compromised with large amounts of explosives. Naturally Archon ordered everyone to fall back. ONI would destroy the ship rather than let fall into anyone elses hands. It would not belong before detonations would rip the ancient vessel apart.

But all was not lost several terminas filled with all sorts of unknown data were recovered before the Sangheili would evacuate. There was nothing they could do to disarm the explosives. In the end the majority of the troops sent out to this mission would survive, the rest would be killed aboard that ship. Their failure was not complete, after all they made it out with what could be important info.

The return trip would be a rather long one due to unnecessary contemplation on the nature of their mission. All of that really did was make every single one of them feel worse than they should. This was the first time Archon felt the sting of defeat, it felt strange to him. Their arrival was met with disappointment almost instantly. It was disgrace beyond belief for most of the religous people among them.

Archon and Feelia were realtively unphased by all that went around them, they simply headed for their respective quarters to get some rest. They feall asleep almost instantly in a strangely synchronized fashion. After all there would always be the next mission that they could be sent to, besides there was no use crying over spilled milk at this point.

Dawn of the following day would bring them both out at the same time. It was also at this time that archon began getting interested in Feelia as a potential love interest. She was rather beautiful for a Sangheili, and she always had this strange sweet scent around her. It would drive him crazy over the next few days until he finally decided to get in a relationship with her. Bariss would not oppose their relationship, after all he had other children who needed far more attention.

They soon beagna having their own romantic rendezvous in secret to protect Feelias honor. Archon even promised he would only be interested in Feelia for the rest of his natural life. Both were moved by sveral tender moments between them in the days whic passed far too quickly. Archon turned out tio be rather impatient and soon asked Feelia to marry him. The wedding would be upon them quite soon. Though feelia did have her doubts ata first she did say yes in the end. They would both be preparing for this big evet of their lives, it would be an event that redefine the views of most Sangheili towards humans immediately after their wedding.


	13. Chapter 13

Archon was hesitant when it came to marriage. Though whether or not he wanted to get married he would get married at gunpoint. This did not really surprise him when he thought about it, he also started to think of ways to get out of this whole wedding arrangement deal. And o one night a few days before the wedding h headed to the hangar. His was quite simple, walk in and get away on his ship.

His entrance was met with a little suspicion and he ended up talking with the guards about how he got nervous and wanted to do some work on ship to get hismind off of the wedding. They intended to say no but they did't really blame him. Eventually the let him pass tolet him work on his ship. This of course went according to plan as far as the guards were concerned. He pent some fooling around with the drive systems and the targeting program to make it look like he wasn't going to do anything. The guards got more than just a bit lax and let him do whatever he wanted to do.

Archon did some preparations for his escape before he entered the hangar. He pulled some data on likely Forerunner installations as far away from here as possible. His next thing was to scramble the sensors so that his launch wouldn't get noticed and logged. He immediately got to work on removing his tracking beacon from the ship.

It went too well and he began t doubt his plan. He performed a scan of his ship in secret and found a tracking beacon attached to his hull. He removed it without disturbing it. He thought it could warn whoever placed there of its removal. He srewed around withthe ship for a few more hours until the guards started to change for their shift rotations.

At this moment Archon launched his ship without hesitation. By the time the guards realised what happened Archon had already made a slipspace jump towards an unknown location.

The shock that came to the sangheili awas greater than expected, and unlike most they gave up on the search seeing it was pointless. But Archon had plenty of other reasons to go away. He wanted to go to a planet that could turn put to be a shield world.

In secret he had always been interested in Forerunners, and was rather curious when it came to their history. He always wondered why they created such grand structures without even hinting at who might inherit them. All of this led him to his current predicament.

All he could focus on was thedata he stole on the Forerunner ship infested with ONI. His journey would take several jumps and last around four months. He had made plans with longterm survival in mind. Though he had mot intended to leave Feelia in the way he did but it was more Archon trying to avoid marriage at all costs rather than his curiosity.

In the end he shifted his attention away from such thoughts and focused on studying as much as he could on Forerunner installations. The months flew by quickly with him having close call encounters with UNSC and Covenant remnant fleets from various splintered factions. But in the end he arrived undetected at his intended destination.

He performed several scans from orbit to see if this was a shield world. The scans were inconclusive but they did reveal several installations remiiniscent of research complexes. He landed shortly after near on of these instalations.

He stepped outside of his ship with his weapons at the ready. All he was met with was an eery silence. This was strange as every fibre of his being warned of danger. He snt enoughg time hunting in his youth to know that a planet with the ability to sustain life should have some sort of noise reaching his ears. And yet here there was nothing but silence. He sealed his helmete and armor just in case of there being some sort of virus or bioweapon involved.

He proceeded cautiously towards the complex. It took him about fortyfive minutes to reach the entrance into this colossal structure. He entered expecting some sentinels to be active or well anything, but all the was met with was darkness. He switched his visor to a vision mode that would let him see better in this darkness. His eyes were confronted with torn pices of what appeared to e Forerunner armor and weapons along with their robotic allies meant to fight the flood.

This was stranger than ever since the signs of fighting and the remains of euipment seemed rather recent, Five thousand yeras ago recent. He thouht all the Forerunners died when the Halo array was fired to stop the Flood but it seemed rather strange for this to happen. He did not yet know of the Didact since Masterchief hadn't awakened yet.

He proceeded with caution into this vast complex. It took several hours of travellig through various corridors and rooms until he stumbled on to what seemed like control room of sorts. Here he beagn accessing ancient files after figuring out how to power them with his suit. in here he found various details of reasearch regarding the Flood. He kept looking only to find strange records of security logs.

He read something about and experimental mid level combat AI ment to fight the Flood being programmed here. The Ai would be made rather simple but independent andmeant to work with other AIs of a similar type for better destruction of the Flood. Then he stumbled upon the specifications of its mechanical body. This AI was meant to be able to construct whatever it needed to figh the infection, Various forms of hardlight weaponry were to be attached to its frame along with advanced fabrication technology. All of these files lead to date five hundred years before the Halos were fired.

He kept on looking further into the files when noticed something strange, a recent activities file. There was a contingent of warrior servants meant defend theresearchers who was put into stasis twenty years after their project ended, whixh was roughly some four hundred years befor the firing of the Halos.

These logs indicated that five thousand years sago they were all awakened along with their AI counterparts. Who mistook them as potential vectors for Flood infection. The AI reports were sent to this facility and he browsed through them. The Forerunners were put into stasis in order to keep the facility hidden as the Flood advanced into this system. The Ai units fabricated their own ground based orbital defenses, sentinels, fortifiactions , and even ships to fight the Flood on this planet.

Their last report was fragmented and indicated rampancy was involved wiht some of them. The rampant AIs took to destreoying potential Flood vectors fr some strange reason. The contingent of warrior servants was wiped out after several days of heavy fighting in the facility.

Then Archon's mind saw only one thing. Number of active units: 20. He very quickly proceeded with caution as he also saw another piece od information. Number of units in stasis: 4000.

This was expected but form these reports he thought they made about twenty thousand of them for testing purposes. But afeter spending some more time with the sfiles they indicated that all but fifty were destroyed in attempts to hold off the Flood in this system. The Ai was capable of self replication to an extent.

He was already too deep in the complex to be ableescape safely. Distant sounds of metal clanging to the floor alerted him that his presence was known. A message was soon received and displayed. It read.

Threat detected,. Threat status: Active. Interception mode engaged. Lethal methods authorized.

Archon decide to make a run for it deeper into the facility. Thinking he could take out on if it was after him. But he knew that wouldm't be the case. Soon he hid in a nearby room in the hopes making an ambush. What surprised himwas that a number sentinels went flying by the room straight down the corridor. The AIs bodies were being used to a greater degree than he anticipated.

He knew his shileds could withstand a few seconds of the sentinel beams but doubted about hardlight weapons if he encountered one of the AI units. It was not too long before fifty sentinels went down corrider right past the room he was hiding in.

He hadn't gotten a good look at the specs of these units but they seemed to have an advanced sensor suite. He made a choice to try and sneak past them through ventilation and maintenance shafts.

He managed to get pretty far only to see on of the AI frames heavily damaged trying to repair itself. It knew Archon was there, and it tried fire one of its weapons when Archon shredded it with a few shots from a carbine. He examined its body carefully. There were marks of hardlight wepon impacts from the warrior servants on the armor. He also noticed heavier versions of the same weapons on its frame along with the ability to use hardlight as way of shielding itself.

He proceeded to run back to his ship. On his way there he got into a firefight with a few of the sentinels. He managed to destroy them all but not before losing his left arm and suffering damage to his visor. With his vsion impaired and a lost limb he tried to hurry only ot encounter another frame. Except thison was fully operational and undamaged.

He ducked to the side narrowly avoiding impacts from what seemed to be a pair of massiely powerful hardlight rifles. But he could not avoid his fate. The AI immediately went to grab its crippled target. The AI started to kill him slowly and inflicting great pain as it ripped his prosthetic legs from under him. The reason why ithurt so much was that they were connected straight to his nervous system. Then his reaining arm ripped off from rather slowly.

It started with his finger and the his fist eventually moving to his forearm and finishing the rest. At this point Acrhon had lost a lot of blood and was close to death. The machine would not give him the right to die this peacefully. Oh no for it had intended to rip straight through his chestplate.

And so after few minutes of a grueling and torturous death Archon's corpse was tossed aside. He suffered a more merciful fate than the warrior servants and the scientists in the end. And so he reamined lost to all who knew him untill his reamins were rediscovered by a team lead by Feelia to this world. They came here under orders after a few years. The state of his ship told them everything when they arrived. The damn thing was completely wrecked. Feelia and the rest of the warriors who accompanying her were stricken with grief upon discovering footage straight from his helmet. They left the world immediately without disturbance.

But the sight of the still faintly red corridor and the state of his corpse would haunt them for the rest of their lives.


End file.
